Oct Weekly #4 - Subjects and Sins ~RESULTS~

[Equinox Chick]

HIDEOUS HERBOLOGY

You've settled nicely into Hogwarts and are well into your second month. You probably like the House you're in, as well.

But how are the lessons going?

For the next few weeks, the weeklies are going to be based around the subjects taught at Hogwarts and one of the seven deadly sins. You need to write a drabble of between 300 - 500 words or less based on both the prompts given.

You may write an OC or a canon character. You may write a student or a professor, but the drabble must take place in the lesson the prompt suggests.

You may write any POV, tense or era, but we want to get the feeling of being in the actual lesson.

PROMPT 1 ~ HERBOLOGY

PROMPT 2 ~ SLOTH

Form for your drabble:

[B]Name:[/B]
[B]House:[/B]
[B]Title:[/B]
[B]Ratings/Warnings:[/B]
[B]Word Count:[/B]
[B]A/N:[/B] 

Please direct any questions to the "Ask a Barmaid thread" here

All standard MNFF guidelines must be followed. Whilst a minor typo can be ignored, glaring SPaG (and canon misspellings) cannot. This has led us to discount marvellous drabbles before now, so if you're not sure, then use a beta. Your barmaids have been known to glower at canon inaccuracies, so please don't have Gabrielle Delacour transferring to Hogwarts to join Harry in a lesson. It didn't happen.

This competition will close on Wednesday 3rd November at 10 pm GMT.

Thank you

Your Barmaids.

[Cinderella Angelina]

Name: Cinderella Angelina
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Effort to Avoid Effort
Ratings/Warnings: 1-2 yrs/none
Word Count: 485
A/N: This is (obviously, I hope) during third year.

"How's your arm today, Draco?"

"It still hurts a lot, Pansy. Don't touch it." Draco pulled away from Pansy's sympathetic stroke and looked around the greenhouse for Professor Sprout. "Professor," he said, approaching her with his arm held stiffly. "I can't do ... what are we doing today?"

"We're fertilizing puffapods," she replied briskly. "You might have some difficulty, though it is indeed possible to do it with one hand. Perhaps see if one of your classmates is willing to help you."

"You won't ... assign anyone?" Draco felt a tinge of worry.

"No, of course not. You should be fully capable of finishing your own work some way or another."

"Right." He wandered back over to Crabbe and Goyle. There had to be some way to get out of this, or it was hardly worth having his arm bandaged so heavily. "Hey, Crabbe," he started, then reconsidered. Herbology was not one of Crabbe's strong points. Neither was it Goyle's. Maybe one of the Ravenclaws would be willing to help, if he phrased it right. All he had to do was remember one of their names....

"Leslie?"

"Lisa." The Ravenclaw girl glared at him.

"Lisa. Right." Draco tried to put on a charming smile. "You're so smart. I bet you could finish your puffapod and mine during class today!"

"I don't think so." And she focused on her work, completely ignoring his presence.

"How about you...er...Boot?"

"No thanks."

Draco huffed in frustration. "Zabini?"

"Get stuffed, Malfoy."

Professor Sprout was looking his way; Draco scurried over to his assigned puffapod, glowering. It seemed there was no other way to get around this. He took a deep breath, pasted on a smile, and turned to the person next to him.

"Pansy, I can't seem to get this right. The darned bandage keeps getting in the way. Could you help me?"

"Oh, of course!" she simpered. "But I need to finish my own puffapod first." Her eyes lit up. "I have an idea! You can use one hand to put the fertilizer in the pot with me! Three hands will make the work go so much faster, and we'll definitely have time for both!"

"But -- " Draco tried, but Pansy gave him a look that said he'd not be getting out of this. So he stood at Pansy's pot, ignoring the caressing nudges she kept finding excuses to give him, and grabbed handfuls of fertilizer as slowly as possible.

"At this rate, we might not finish yours in time," Pansy said. "Here, we need some over on this side." She pointed to a place on the other side of the pot, but didn't move. Draco gritted his teeth and reached across her to pat fertilizer down, averting his gaze from her simpering smile. Next time, he'd just buckle down and do it himself, fake bandages or not. Getting out of work wasn't worth this.

[hogwartsbookworm]

Name: Bookworm!
House:HUFFLEPUFF!
Title: Black Thamditters
Ratings/Warnings:1st-2nd/none
Word Count: Eh, 389. Little.
A/N: I had a hard time thinking up something for these prompts, but here is the product of my thoughts.

Pomona Sprout was having an average day. Her first class of the morning, first year Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, was going well. They were repotting Honking Daffodils – not a dangerous or difficult job – and besides Colin Creevey’s close call with the Venomous Tentacula, the lesson had been fairly quiet; perhaps even a bit boring to someone less interested in plants than she was.

Boredom, however, was no reason for sloth. Not in Pomona’s mind.

With a sigh, she decided it was time to reproach the absent-minded Ravenclaw who had now been staring at her dirt covered glove for over fifteen minutes, a faraway look in her eyes. It was time to confront Luna Lovegood.

Giving words of encouragement to her students as she passed them, Pomona made her way through the greenhouse, toward Miss Lovegood. When she was standing nearly at her shoulder, Pomona paused, waiting for Lovegood to notice her.

After three minutes and forty two seconds (according to her dirt smeared watch), Pomona began to be curious about the thoughts unfurling in the young Ravenclaw’s mind. The girl’s huge blue eyes were unfocused, and a lazy smile quivered on the edges of her mouth, as if she was aware of, and amused by, her teacher’s attention.
After another five minutes and twenty seven seconds, Pomona decided that, for the sake of the girl’s education, she needed to be brought back to earth.

“Miss Lovegood?”

Luna blinked and focused on the professor’s face, her eyebrows raised, as if surprised to find her standing there.

“Yes, Professor Sprout?” she asked in a dreamy voice.

“We are repotting Daffodils, Miss Lovegood. What are you doing?”
Luna smiled and raised her dirty palm.

“I was wondering whether dragon dung usually contains such a quantity of Black Thimdatters.”

Pomona raised an eyebrow.

“Black Thamditters?”

“No, Black Thimdatters, Professor.”

“And what are Black Thimdatters, Miss Lovegood?”

Luna’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, Daddy told me all about them in his last letter. He said that they are tiny worms that leave excretion in the dirt or manure they inhabit, and they make it stickier and smellier than it normally is. And I noticed that this dragon dung seems unusually sticky and stinky, Professor, and–”

Pomona smiled as Luna continued. Well, she had judged her wrongly. Whatever she might be, Luna Lovegood was not slothful.

[CoolCatElly]

Name: Elene
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Terrible Tentaculas
Ratings/Warnings: 1st-2nd/ None
Word Count: 500
A/N: Jess is a life-saver. Thank You!

“All right chaps, today I have a special treat for you,” Professor Sprout said, briskly striding into Greenhouse Five. Though this was a seventh-year class, they’d had only a handful of lessons in there, as it contained rare, highly dangerous plants used for Professor Sprout’s personal research.

“This should be good, Padfoot. I don’t think I’d have been able to stand another lesson of trying to distinguish between mooncalf and dragon dung,” James said cheerfully, leading the class inside.

“I guess.” Sirius shrugged. He wasn’t even in the mood for the stupid lesson at all. He’d had another fight with Regulus the previous night and couldn’t sleep; apparently his dear old mother had decided that disowning him didn’t mean she couldn’t recruit Reg to try and change his mind. As much as he hated the lot of them, hexing his brother didn’t really make him feel better.

Even in his gloomy, sleep-deprived state however, he still managed a double-take when they entered the greenhouse. Three massive Venomous Tentacula plants loomed in the centre row, one for every pair. The class lingered at the door, not willing to approach them.

Professor Sprout went on to explain the many properties of the Tentacula, but Sirius wasn’t paying too much attention.

“The Tentacula has many thick, spiky vines which it uses to grab living prey, and once it has a firm grip, it will expel highly poisonous venom, paralysing its prey. We were extremely lucky to obtain these three, and I thought that today, we can re-plant them and help them adjust to their new habitat. You must exercise extreme care and a high level of alertness. You may use a Severing Charm in case of an attack.

“Please move it to one of the three prepared sites along the wall, keeping it as far away from the other plants in the process, as they can get very competitive. You’ll need to re-plant it and add a fresh layer of fertiliser, and then we’ll go to work on feeding them.” She nodded towards a big sack of something bloody in the corner.

The class slowly took up their positions and got to work.

“Ouch!” Sirius looked around furiously to find James grinning behind him. “Get a move on, Sirius. Sloth is a sin, you know.”

Reaching the last plant in the row, James said, “Okay, you levitate and I’ll make the hole in the new pot.”

“Right. Wingardium Leviosa.” Sirius thought that, on any other day, this would have been a lesson he’d enjoy, but at the moment he could only idly wonder if he could possibly send one to his mother for Christmas.

“Sirius! SIRIUS, LOOK OUT!”

Shaking off his daze, Sirius only then realised that his wand had veered to the left, causing his Tentacula to collide with the next one over. Somehow, even with the sounds of the plants fiercely ripping at each other and the girls’ high-pitched squeals, he still managed to hear Professor Sprout’s furious scream.

“MR BLACK!”

[Equinox Chick]

Thank you

Results soon

I hope

The Barmaids

[Equinox Chick]

Only three entries and all from Puffs, thus living up to Helga's ideals and not being at all SLOTHFUL!


Okay, I can only award first place because there weren't enough entries, but this was a difficult one to judge because I really did enjoy them all. The one that edged it, purely because ... you know something ... it just made me smile a little bit more was


DRUM ROLL PLEASE

Black Thamditters by hogwartsbookworm

So 15 points for Hufflepuff


Madam Carole